Take a look at what Ze'ev labelled...Each section highlights in the race selector, including the nullsec regions...to me, that says that those factions have or had influence over those regions. For example, Cloud Ring, Outer Ring, Fountain and Fade all have/had Gallente colonies there, or otherwise have a majority of Gallente population there (perhaps CCP is hinting your character may very originate from those regions).
Now, the opening description of Ruthless is..."Join young Otro Gariushi on the cold streets of the ice planet C8-CHY VII as fate catapults him into a life of crime and piracy"...I think it was an Ishukone world right? But now what has happened to it? The system is probably owned by some silly nullsec alliance called "l33t str33t" or something equally immersion-breaking. Similarly, Tribute is described as a key region for trade between the State and "northern territories" but, again, the capsuleer alliances now hold sovereignty there.
There are numerous landmark descriptions that talk about military presences in various nullsec areas too...to me, nullsec is the 'true frontier' of EVE, where the factions or even just private corporations settled remote colonies on worlds in empty systems. But now, the leverage for this sort of worldbuilding has sorta been eradicated now. With Dust 514, it sounds like these worlds are now outright property of the alliances, and all this "Terminus Systems" vibe has gone.
Or maybe the factions figured "Meh, we're not gonna be able to justify colonizing it ourselves, let's just give it up to the capsuleer alliances, and we'll get a shitload of money through sov payments from CONCORD".
What do you think?